Crock sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary

Crock sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Crock sb.2

Obs. exc. dial. [Derivation doubtful; by Ray app. identified with prec.] Smut, soot, dirt.

1

1657.  H. Crowch, Welsh Trav., 496. Was all bedawb’d hurself with crock.

2

1674.  Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 63. Crock, to black one with soot or black of a pot or kettle or chimney-stock, this black or soot is also substantively called Crock.

3

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., vii. The boy grimed with crock and dirt.

4

1875.  Sussex Gloss., Crock, a smut or smudge.

5

1883.  Mrs. Phœbe Earle Gibbons, in Harper’s Mag., April, 665/1. New England expressions here are,… ‘you have a crock on your nose’ for a smut.

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